Scratching I'll Have Another was humane response to injured horse

John Munson/The Star-LedgerTrainer Doug O'Neill walks I'll Have Another in front of the media in Elmont, N.Y., as it is announced that he is scratched from the Belmont Stakes, thus ending his bid for the Triple Crown.

You didn’t have to be a horse racing fan to feel the hype around tomorrow's Belmont Stakes. I’ll Have Another – the name itself seemed to foreshadow great things – was going for the Triple Crown, having won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

Now all the hype turns out to be a prelude to a miss. Trainer Doug O’Neill decided to scratch I’ll Have Another from the Belmont Stakes when he detected incipient signs of tendinitis in the horse’s front left leg.

Despite deep disappointment that we won’t have a chance to see history being made at the track, it was the right call, the only humane response possible under the circumstances.

Compare that with the way we rationalize players with pain charging onto the football field or hockey rink, doped up with painkillers, incurring more damage to their brains and bodies.

O’Neill’s call placed the horse’s well-being over the chance for a fat purse.